A second-half blitz saw Glasgow Warriors down Benetton Treviso 38-16 in Italy as they clambered into the Guinness PRO12 play-off places with a bonus-point triumph.

Treviso had not beaten a Scottish opponent since March 2014, while their failure to record a win over Glasgow stretches back to September 2011 – now a run of nine fixtures.

The Italians trailed early on thanks to tries from Jonny Gray and Peter Horne but actually took a two-point advantage into half-time thanks to Angelo Esposito’s score and the boot of Jayden Hayward.

But in the midst of a fierce battle for a play-off place, Glasgow knew they couldn’t afford to lose and former Treviso star Simone Favaro, full-back Stuart Hogg, Grayson Hart and James Malcolm ensured they left Stadio Monigo with a comfortable victory.

Glasgow headed to Italy on a five-match winning run and after an early feeling-out phase, Gray opened the scoring on 12 minutes – bursting over the line after an extended period of pressure.

Finn Russell duly added the conversion but his opposite number Hayward soon pegged Glasgow back to 7-6 with a pair of quickfire penalties.

To their credit, Treviso continued to pressure the visitors but were caught out on 29 minutes as the Warriors showed an ability to turn defence into attack that will serve them well in the season’s final weeks.

A sublime break from Henry Pyrgos put Glasgow close to the opposition line and Horne was on hand to crash over from close range with Russell’s conversion making it 14-6.

But once again the hosts were undeterred by conceding points and a slick team move from the halfway line deservedly got them a first try of the game.

A scything move sliced open the Scots’ defence and Esposito rounded it off with Hayward adding the extras to narrow the deficit to a single point.

And the New Zealander continued to be metronomic from the tee as his long-range three-pointer just before the break ensured that Treviso went into half-time 16-14 ahead.

With their top-four hopes hanging by a thread, Warriors unsurprisingly came out of the dressing room with all guns blazing and Favaro dived over the whitewash from close-range against his former team to put Glasgow back in the ascendancy.

Treviso had won two of their last three matches at Stadio Monigo heading into this clash and maintained hope of making that three from four in this encounter as solid defence continually denied the Warriors a bonus-point try.

But the inevitable breakthrough came on the hour mark as the in-form Hogg – recently named as player of the Championship for the Six Nations – danced down the right flank and escaped the attempted defenders to dot down.

A fifth try came with 13 minutes remaining as Hart snuck over before another period of intense pressure produce try number six with Malcolm crossing the whitewash.

And although a seventh try was not forthcoming, the Warriors left Treviso with mission accomplished as they will now stay in Italy ahead of a clash with Zebre next Friday.

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